My 3 Picks for SFIFF: Court, Chef’s Table and 7 Chinese Brothers

With one more week to go, here are my 3 picks from this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (April 23-May 7, 2015). These are films that I have seen. There are lot of films I have not seen, and would like to see them. These include “The Diplomat,” “The Deep Web” “Tangerine” and “The Wolf Pack.” In case you missed it, here is my previous post on my picks from the film festival.

1. “Court” by Chaitanya Tamhane. This is a riveting film on how the court system works in Bombay, India. We see the film through the eyes of the three primary actors: the accused, the defender and the prosecutor. You can read an extended post on Court here.

2. “Chef’s Table” is a Netflix original documentary series that features 6 chefs from around the world. What is fascinating about this series is that you get a close look at how each of these chefs evolved and found their style. Often, we forget that chefs have to be entrepreneurial in their ventures and we see that aspect of their personality too. The festival is presenting two episodes from the series. One of them is about the flamboyant, fearlesss, fire-loving chef Francis Mallman from Argentine.

3. “7 Chinese Brothers“ is a quirky film that centers around a young man played by Jason Schwartzman, who drifts through life in an aimless manner. He finally finds his calling working in an oil change shop. Disaster strikes when he loses his last remaining relative and his job. How does he handle this latest upheaval in his life? That is what the film is about.